Life is an experiment

We all have this question in our minds: How am I to view this life in general? How am I to live in this world? In this world of bumps and jumps, in this world of ups and downs, in this world of flashes and lashes, how am I to live?

A simple answer that Sri Sathya Sai Baba has given is, “Consider your life as an experiment.” Life is an experiment. Life is a training ground. It is a training school. Yes. Once I understand that life is an experiment, then my view of life will be totally different.

And also, an experiment is different from the person who performs it. I experiment, but I am different from the experiment. But, unfortunately, we identify ourselves with the experiments. So we get heated up and transformed into vapour, like something burnt on the Bunsen burner in a laboratory.

If we can understand that we are different from the experiment, and in viewing the experiment; if we make certain observations from which we draw some inference and learn a theory or a principle, then we will be learners. There’s great joy in being a learner – more than in being learned. Learning is greater than being learned.

If anyone says, “I'm learned” or “So-and-so is a highly learned person,” please, take it from me, he is ‘dead and gone’.

Because what he has learnt is past. Past is death. The knowledge of the past is borrowed, while learning is a process of the present. In response to my blogs, I came across a bunch of such "learned personalities" on speaking tree; who not only declare themselves learned but also Self-realized. Then after their declarations, they start abusing me personally when I countered their claims. What kind of self-realization is this, I wonder.

Learning is in the present. Learning is possible when we are humble. Let us try to learn in this style, rather than acquire knowledge and call ourselves ‘learned’. This will be possible when we understand that life is an experiment. It is a training school.

Know One’s Own Being

The next question I would be asked is What is the purpose of this exeperiment called Life. An experiment has a purpose behind it. A training school has a purpose. If I consider my life as a training school, if I think of my life as an experiment, then what is the aim of this experiment?

The aim of this experiment of life is to know one’s own being.

But, we do not know what this being is. We only know of becoming. We know doing, but we do not know being. We go on doing and doing and doing. We want that state of becoming, but we do not know our real being.

Life is meant for us to learn. Life is an experiment and we should realise its purpose, which happens to be to experience our true Self -- this is called ‘being’. Life is a school where we can experience our true identity, our being. Life is an experiment where we can enjoy our true nature, which happens to be a state of being. This is what I want to impress upon you.

Perhaps to those who have not been exposed to this kind of thinking, my idea may look ridiculous. “How can you say that I do not know my being? What nonsense you speak!” You may question me like that. Or, perhaps your modesty or your prayerfulness may prevent you from asking that question.

Yet, none of us know our true nature, our own being. Why? If I experience my being, then I will never be miserable, because the nature of being is bliss. If I say there is sun, but in fact it is very dark outside, what does that mean? You will simply say that there is no sun there really, or that I am blind. When there is sun, there is bound to be light -- it cannot be dark.

So, if I am truly being, and I am experiencing or realising that state of being, then I can never be miserable because Ananda or bliss is a feature of being. However, we are not in a state of being because we think of everything else other than our true being. Once this true being is known, we’ll certainly understand the reason behind our vision.

The divine Energy

It is not the eyes that see. It is our being that sees. If it were the eyes that see, then how is it that a blind man who has physical eyes, yet cannot see? Similarly, it is our being that hears, and not the ears. Deaf people may have better ears than most of us, but they can't hear because the being, the divine energy has not gone into that part of the human body.

Therefore, being is the Cosmic energy. Being is the Divine energy. It is the Divine force, which goes into the different parts of our body and is responsible for their effective functioning in our lifetime.

So, may this Navarathri help us to know our being -- to think about our being. This is the purpose for which we are born. We are not born to amass wealth. We are not born to live in vanity or charity, or for publicity. We are born to know our being.

Thanks

Note: My friends, these are all the thoughts collected from Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s discourses. I repeat this in each of my blogs, only to impress upon you that I do not know anything other than this. So as to leave no scope for speculation or imagination, or vanity, or exhibition of my scholarship, let me be very plain in this matter.